Allardyce excited by Jarvis arrival

23 August 2012 06:17

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West Ham manager Sam Allardyce believes the signing of winger Matt Jarvis from Wolves would add an extra dimension to his squad.

Jarvis is set to seal a move to Upton Park that could see him become the most expensive signing in the club's history, with a reported fee of £10.75million including add-ons. The 26-year-old is likely to be involved at the weekend against Swansea if a deal is completed in time, and Allardyce praised the ability of the former Gillingham man.

"From my point of view it is a big piece of business. I think a quality young man who has got a lot of qualities that will add to the team we have already got," he said.

"When you are trying to create in the Premier League and score goals, he is one of those players who can certainly give defences a really hard time and that is what we are hoping he can do for us."

After already featuring in Wolves' opening games of the season, Allardyce confirmed he had no fears about throwing Jarvis straight into his starting XI at the Liberty Stadium.

When asked if Jarvis would be considered against Swansea, Allardyce said: "Absolutely. This is not a player that is coming in from abroad or coming from a foreign club.

"He had a full pre-season at Wolves, he played on Tuesday night for Wolves and I watched him play against Leeds sat in my office waiting for our first game last week, and was obviously thoroughly impressed with him again.

"He has been a huge success at Wolverhampton Wanderers since his move from Gillingham and we hope he will be as big a success for us as he was for them. He is fit, he is eager and he is ready to go."

Allardyce would not be drawn on an exact fee for the winger but was pleased the club could move for someone commanding such a high transfer value.

"All I know is it is me asking the co-chairmen David Sullivan and David Gold to try and secure this player and make sure that if we can do it financially, lets do it," he said. "And they have done that and we are extremely pleased to sign what we consider to be a high quality player for our team."